nothing lasts forever
by Cherry Jolicoeur
Summary: after Steg's life is nearing to his end opal goes through the experience of her whole perfect world collapsing around her. On one night after a visit to the hospital steg and opal share one last moment together before his departure.


**_summary-after Steg's life is nearing to his end opal goes through the experience of her whole perfect world collapsing around her. On one night after a visit to the hospital, steg and opal share one last moment together before his departure._**

**_Steg and Opal are human in all my AUs for those who get confused. and not to pour salt in anyone's wounds but heart disease is the #1 leading cause of death in middle-aged people...yeah it makes sense since steg is nearly in his 60's_**

**_this takes place in my Medical AU. i was watching Chocolate com Pimenta a few weeks ago and when i watched the episode where Ludovico dies of an illness leaving Ana alone with her child this just occurred to me._**

* * *

One after another the unusual circadian rhythm-like sound of the ECG monitor slowly beeped in the silent hospital room contrasting with the overlapping sniffles and airy gasps coming from opal as she sat down near a side on steg's hospital bed. It was the beginning of the end, and today was the day where she had to bear the idea of living life without the person she loved deeply for now she comes out to live life as a lone widow.

From that dreadful night a cruel twist of fate turned off the bright smile that gave life to the relationship the two had. It had been over at least 2 years since the message about his gravely decaying health got out. opal was on the sidelines consumed with massive grief as she kept thinking over about the events that happened last night and through the following week; how the combination of Steg achingly holding on to his chest to suppress a tightening pain he felt sear in his heart, to him suddenly collapsing on stage, the microphone's deafening screech resounding against the floor, to medical officials rushing onto the stage and circling around him to address to his unconscious form while a sheer form of unadulterated panic erupted throughout the audience with most of the fans' resonant shrieks of terror ripping through the appalled silence.

No one in his entourage or the medics had any time to think; steg was immediately dispatched to the nearest hospital and the concert drew to an abrupt end as security guards escorted everyone out of concert hall in large groups. Opal raced out of bed and dashed her way to the hospital immediately once she was received the phone call. She tried to calm herself over and over again thinking that since steg was nearing to his early 60s he might've just had an accident until she was thoroughly elaborated by his entourage and by the doctors that it was clearly not the case.

After the news got out,like the others it deeply hurt her to see her nephew cry. Steven had to be the most devastated out of everyone else,posing as a close second to greg as steven locked himself away in his room and cried back and forth at least a staggering two and a half weeks. Everyone went over,trying to urge the boy to come out of his room so they could talk to him in any way they can to let him know that everything would be okay to no avail. Regardless, steven's grief over the matter was understandable given that during his early childhood, on the morning/afternoon weekends the two would spend every waking moment with each other when greg was away operating the carwash and pearl was away teaching her ballet class with rose volunteering aside her. It took the downcast teenager at least a dozen serious confirmations from family and medical officials to finally believe the revelation, and after that Steven's instant tears were broken and painful, like how Opal registered the news herself the second she felt her entire world shatter around her. the beaming sun died out overflowing the once clear cerulean sky with such bold, haunting darkness, the grass blades accompanying with blossoming flowers surrounding her feet shrivelled up and died,leaving the dusty ground to immediately cave in below her and submerge her until an endless void, home to nothing but a world of suffocating darkness.

Tear after tear Opal silently wept over the cotton blanket that concealed his lower body. Her one eye remained hidden by the palm of her hand to match with another hand covering her lips as she mourned back and forth, unable to look at his pale face. IV's were hooked to his arms

"opal..." a slow voice whispered aside her, breaking the choking silence that filled the room with its deafening yet invisible noise. the presence of Steg's exhausted voice caught the weeping opal's attention.

Opal perched up and began to carefully interlock her petite hands into his, looking into his steadily blinking eyes. those dusky eyes of his used to hold so much life and appeal to equal to his personality, it sparkled like the endlessly shimmering diamonds that were adorned on both of their wedding rings. but now that he was going to meet face to face with his end, through every medical treatment he went through throughout his time of being isolated in and out of this hospital room, they grew out to be dull with a dead life.

Opal let out a weak sniffle as she wiped away her face of tears with her limp wrist,trying to fixate her blurry glance into her husband's eyes. She tightened her grip onto his hands protectively, futilely blinking away the tears that remained from earlier from briefly remembering the nostalgia as she did. these were the same hands he always held onto throughout their time together when steg held up her hand to lay a soft kiss on it when they first met to them reciting their vows and sharing the first and last dances at their reception.

Then again,tears streamed down opal's porcelain cheeks as she sniffled for what she thought had to be the umpteenth time again. "Opal...you look so beautiful..." steg murmured,his hand trying to reach up to her. opal felt her heart crumble one by one when he said the one sentence he would always say throughout their relationship. "heh...Don't know why i even said something like that...you were always this gorgeous."

Opal swept away a limp bang that hung loosely near the side of her face, proceeding to do a mental double-take as she looked back at him. "Steg..." she paused before letting out a broken sniffle. "Steg, i can't lose you...I love you so much...we all do...we all can't lose you..." she wept brokenly.

Steg gave her a downcast look. opal stared forward into his face with her watery blue eyes, her face matching to that of a sad child.

"I..." he breathed inaudibly, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know this isn't what you-*cough*...want, baby...but *cough*...sometimes...some stars have to die out in the end..."

Opal internally smiled a little from within knowing that even in a state like this he still had his charms. but that wasn't enough to replace the near inextinguishable storm of sorrow that made itself comfortable inside her.

"I'll always...be here for you, baby..." steg gently assured, lamely grazing his trembling fingers over her alabaster skin. he pushed away a stray lock of her milk-white locks getting a closer look of her face just as he wanted. "when you see a...shooting star...that's me up there, passing by...and saying hello to you..."

Opal's lips quivered as she tried to form a wide smile,if not the strongest one she could muster, the end result being a small one. "I know you will...you will always be in my heart steg..." she declared. "I'll always believe in you...I'll join you again someday, and when I cross over i'll be thinking of you, just like that shooting star...you can count on it."

Opal's smile began to fell,but she quickly wiped away her tears and reached over to steg's face, closing in as she gently pushed her dawn-tinted lips onto his. Steg eased into the embrace as the two remained locked into the kiss for a while before opal removed her lips from his.

Steg returned a faint yet fully loving smile, a stray tear forming in his eye to later cascade down his cheek.

"goodbye, Opal..." he bids wistfully. "I'll always love you. you...you will always be my brightest star." he concludes, before slowly closing his eyes.

Heavy tears flowed down opal's eyes, but in the end she remained indifferent to the feeling of her body solidifying apprehensively as she watched steg's body stiffen as he proceeded to give himself up to the binds of cessation. His slow breaths became reduced into a series of nearly resounding rasps, and the monotone beeps of the ECG monitor began to pick up the pace increasing with crazed urgency.

"No-" Opal instantly rose out of her place on her chair as she regretfully ran over to his side until the inevitable happened. she felt her once divided heart shatter into a handful of pieces once she stood and watch the man she loved dearly become stolen from her.

the speed of the beeps began to instantly decrease along with Steg's pants as they faded into permanent silence before the beeps until the sound of a long deafening beep filled opal's ears and the whole hospital room. It was over.

"_**NO!**_" was the only word Opal said before immediately flinging herself onto his lifeless body. she tightly held onto Steg, bursting into a neverending stream of deeply heartbroken sobs.

* * *

**_Holy shit this has to be the saddest thing i've written so far, it's even worse that i read this in steg and opal's voices when i looked at it before publishing it._**

**_asides from that, this was a serious bitch to write. I've never seen a loved one of mine died in person,and if i ever did it would be a seriously emotionally traumatising outcome for me. Dictating a character's feelings towards a loved one's death isn't always my strong suit since i've never written something like this before,so even though i want to be respectful as i really want to be, bear with me please._**

**_Okay so for those who are still left in the dark here's an explanation. Steg has a heart attack at his concert tour and when he's sent to the hospital he is diagnosed with coronary artery disease as stated throughout the story. Everyone is heartbroken by this, and steven and opal are the most heavily affected out of everyone since they were the ones who had such a close bond with steg. Three years later following an hour after his surgery he goes into cardiac arrest and dies. If you're wondering why opal didn't ask for any help from the nurses to save Steg,she thought that after being through so much hell during his time of being sick, (example: surgeries, constant trips to the hospital, disappointing all of his fans by cancelling some of his concerts) being laid to rest is what Steg would've wanted._**


End file.
